


Welcome Home

by musicofthenight



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Fluff, HOORAY, M/M, quite possibly, taking responsibility for mental health, the most self indulgent fic I've ever written?, this is a gentle one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:22:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24221257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicofthenight/pseuds/musicofthenight
Summary: Just two dorks bonding over a video game.Or: Stiles teaches Derek about self care via Animal Crossing
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 77
Kudos: 318





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I've spent a lot of the last month playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I've been in need of escapism, and this game has delivered.  
> I've also been rewatching Teen Wolf, and I just want Derek Hale to have nice things. So I'm writing a fic where he practices treating himself better by playing AC and I'm not even sorry. I hope you enjoy it, plz leave me a comment if you do :)

Stiles barely even flinches when Derek slips in through his window these days. He’s kicked back on the bed, his new pride and joy clutched in his hands.

“Hey buddy,” he says, eyes only flicking over to Derek before retuning to the screen in front of him. “What do you need?”

He’s planting flowers at the moment, trying to make his Animal Crossing deserted island the most epic version of itself that it can possibly be. He plants some red cosmos next to his tent as he waits for Derek to reply. His town is gonna be awesome.

“What are you doing, Stiles,” Derek huffs, tone so flat it barely counts as a question, and moves as if to take the console out of Stiles’ hands. He yanks it to his chest, pouting and defensive.

“Hey, easy, I’m working hard here,” he shoots back, turning the screen to show Derek the adorable virtual version of himself. Derek looks somewhere between baffled and impatient, so Stiles sighs and moves over. “Come on, tell me whatever you need to tell me, just let me do this while you talk, yeah? I promise I can listen at the same time.”

Derek looks up at the ceiling, as if he can’t believe that Stiles could be so ridiculous, but Stiles resolutely Does Not Care. He’s going to earn enough Nook Miles today to upgrade his tent, and if Derek doesn’t like that he can come back another time. Whatever he’s come over for clearly isn’t that urgent, or he’d have spat it out by now. With another annoyed huff, Derek sits down next to Stiles on the bed and starts talking.

Stiles is happily raking in the Nook Miles for mindless tasks like catching bugs and fish, while Derek quietly asks him about his latest project to help the pack. He’s planning to put a sort of bestiary online via GoogleDocs this summer, so that the whole pack can all access it from wherever they are. He thinks it could be useful in a pinch. After Stiles has explained the ins and outs of the idea, Derek seems to agree.

By the time Derek’s done with his questions, Stiles has paid off his first loan to Tom Nook and has happily sold his soul (well, signed up for a bigger loan) to get a house. He’s so engrossed in picking fruit from his trees (his local fruit are pears, which is okay, but he was hoping it would be peaches because the animal crossing peaches always look funny to him) and planting new saplings to make an orchard that it takes him a few minutes to realise that Derek hasn’t said anything for a while.

He looks sideways. Derek has relaxed a little next to him, the usual tightness in his frame somewhat soothed, and his eyes are glued to the screen of Stiles’ Switch. Stiles blinks.

“Do you want a go?” he asks, holding the console out towards Derek as an offering. “Just don’t, like, chop down any of my trees or run through my flowers or whatever.”

Derek, for a moment, actually looks tempted, unless Stiles is just projecting his own love of adorable, escapist games onto everyone around him now. Then he blinks, shakes his head, and swallows.

“No, I’m good,” Derek says, his voice low and grumbly. Stiles shrugs and resumes catching fish.

“Your loss, you could probably do with some relaxation even more than I could,” he mumbles without thinking. Derek looks vaguely irritated but doesn’t argue. He doesn’t say anything else, but he also doesn’t make any moves to leave, so Stiles settles back and starts a running commentary of all the reasons why he’s been looking forward to the release of the game as mini-Stiles runs around shaking trees to collect pears. He’s somewhere between explaining how soothing the music is and how cool it is that you can travel to different islands in this new version when he glances up at Derek. He’s almost startled by how relaxed he looks. Derek catches his eye and there’s a small smile on his face.

“Game’s cute”, he said, and Stiles could have fallen off the bed with shock. Of all the things he’d imagined might have been necessary to get past Derek’s grouchy outer-shell (a ton of therapy, a few decades of healing, maybe some recreational drugs), a Nintendo game had not been one of them.

Then again, Timmy and Tommy were seriously cute, so maybe it shouldn’t surprise him that much after all.

“Have you ever played video games?” Stiles finds himself asking. “Like, ever? Or would that ruin your rugged, mountain-man vibe?”

Derek huffs something that sounds suspiciously like a laugh, and Stiles is once again flummoxed. Who is this man, and what has he done with Derek Hale?

“Yes, _Stiles,_ I have played a video game before”, Derek drawls, and the sarcasm in his voice is almost a relief.

“Okay, yeah, but you see, you said it in the singular, like you’ve maybe played _one_ video game. Derek, tell me you’ve played more than one video game, or I’ll be sad.”

Derek only grunts in reply, and Stiles figures he’d thrown too many questions at him for one night, because suddenly Derek is standing up and moving towards the window.

“Have fun,” Derek says sardonically, but Stiles knows now that part of Derek could see the appeal of Animal Crossing, which is possibly the best piece of information he has ever learned.

“You too, when you inevitably cave and buy yourself a Switch,” he hears himself reply, and Derek just laughs quietly as he steals away into the night.

*

Derek holds out for two days. But he’s been having trouble sleeping lately, and he’s not always in the mood to re-read his old novels, and he thinks it might not be such a bad thing to indulge in a little escapism. He used to like video games when he was younger. Before everything went wrong. And it’s taken him such a long time to get to a point where he can seek out things purely for his own enjoyment, but he thinks he might be able to do this, now. It’s worth a try.

He orders a Switch.

When it arrives, he spends half an hour puzzling over the code on the box until he finally succeeds in getting it connected to his WiFi (a relatively new feature of his loft - the pack had absolutely insisted on it being installed, with Stiles as the leader of the intervention). Eventually, it’s all charged up, and the game has downloaded, so he settles into a chair and opens up Animal Crossing.

Half an hour later, a little character with Derek’s thick eyebrows and dark hair is being asked to name his new island. A little voice that sounds suspiciously like Peter whispers to him that he’s being a fool, a child, for indulging in this sort of thing. Derek hesitates for a moment. He is an Alpha, a Hale, a leader who must inspire fear and be prepared to kill to protect his own. He is a product of generations of formidable, fierce ancestors before him. He has been weak before, and it cost him the lives of his entire family. Being childish can be dangerous.

Derek closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath, and remembers how relaxed Stiles had been when he was showing Derek the game. How easy it had been to watch and let the gentle music wash over him.

Derek can be all of those things, an alpha and a Hale and a leader, and he can still make time for himself.

Maybe.

He’s going to try.

He names his island “Beacon Hills”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles finds Derek's Switch

Stiles had come over because he had something to ask Derek. He’s pretty sure. He got in his jeep and drove over here because he had something vaguely important to ask.

Any memory of what that question might have been was entirely wiped from his mind when he saw it.

Derek has his back turned, making a coffee in the kitchen, but he turns to look at Stiles with a frown, so Stiles figures his heartrate must have sped up.

“ _Dude,”_ he says, eyes wide as he stares at Derek. “I can’t believe you got the limited edition one! No fair!”

Derek barely has a chance to flush with embarrassment at his secret being discovered before Stiles has darted into his bedroom and grabbed the Switch from the bedside table. He follows Stiles in, arms crossing firmly in front of his chest.

“Don’t go through my stuff,” he growls, but he’s clearly lost any powers of intimidation, because Stiles just waves a hand in his direction distractedly. He’s too busy admiring the blue-green colours of Derek’s controllers.

“This is so cool,” he breathes, mouth falling open as he turns the console over and sees the details on the back. He gestures at it excitedly, clearly seeking the same enthusiasm in Derek, before remembering who he’s talking to.

Then his head snaps up as something occurs to him.

“What kind of fruit do you have?”

“What?” Derek asks, trying to keep the snap out of his voice. It’s difficult, he feels surprisingly vulnerable now that Stiles knows. Stiles levels a look at him that manages to say simultaneously ‘dude, I do not care, I also love this game’ and ‘tell me what kind of fruit you have right now or I will text the whole pack a photo of your Switch’.

Derek sighs. “Peaches,” he mumbles. Stiles’ eyes light up.

“Dude! You gotta let me come visit your island, come on, I’ll give you some pears to plant!”

Derek pulls a face. Stiles rolls his eyes, gesturing with the console again.

“Come on Mr Sourwolf, lighten up a little! You don’t need to pretend with me, okay?” Stiles looks at him for a moment. “I’m actually really pleased that you bought this, man. From the guy who lived in an abandoned train car for a while there, this is a big step.”

Derek looks at the floor. He hears Stiles sigh, then the noises of the console being turned on.

“I’m taking your friend code,” Stiles says matter-of-factly. “We are going to be friends, and I am going to come to your island, and I will give you pears – which, by the way, will sell for 500 bells each on your island because they’re foreign fruit, you’re _welcome_ – and you will give me peaches, and then I can grow peach trees on my island. Okay? I won’t tell the others if you don’t want me to.”

Derek feels himself relax a tiny bit. He looks up at Stiles.

“500 bells each, huh?”

Stiles grins.

“This is gonna be so great, you’re not even ready.”

*

So that is how Derek finds himself at the airport of his virtual island, opening the gates so that Stiles can come visit.

_How is this my life?_ flashes briefly through his head, but he ignores it. Okay, so this may be a little out of his comfort zone, but he can always claim he bought the game ironically, or something, or donate the console. It’s going to be fine.

He’s distracted from his thoughts by a message popping up on his screen.

“ _Stiles has come to visit from Stilezville!”_

He huffs a laugh at that.

Mini-Stiles is wearing a red hoodie and has a startlingly similar haircut to the real Stiles. Derek smiles to himself. His smile soon turns competitive as mini-Stiles starts hitting him on the head with a bug net. Well, that’s just rude. Derek is certain that Stiles is killing himself laughing right now, sitting in his bedroom whacking Mini-Derek over the head.

Mini-Derek takes out his axe. Stiles steps back.

Derek smiles in spite of himself.

Stiles spends about ten minutes running around Derek’s island, every now and then using that joy-react or whatever it was called, where he looks all happy and flowers start radiating from his head. Derek will never, ever admit how much he likes the cute graphics of this game. And it’s nice, having someone visit his little Beacon Hills. Stiles does the joy reaction at Derek’s neatly planted rows of flowers, and he smirks smugly to himself. He’d worked hard on those.

Eventually, Stiles empties his pockets of pears, and runs around collecting all the peaches he can find. Derek is watching with amusement when his phone buzzes with a text.

**_Stiles_ ** _: remember, don’t sell all of those, plant them and you’ll get more pear trees_

Derek rolls his eyes even though there’s no one there to witness it.

**_Derek:_ ** _fine._

Once he’s booted Stiles off his island, Derek spends a peaceful half hour choosing where to plant his new pear saplings. He’s just wondering if he needs to water them, or if that’s only for flowers, when he realises that Stiles would definitely know the answer.

His eyes flick to his phone, then back to his freshly-planted trees. He hesitates.

*

Stiles is finishing up brushing his teeth when he hears his phone vibrate with a text in his bedroom. He rinses off his toothbrush and shuffles back into bed, grabbing his phone as he pulls the covers over himself.

**_Derek:_ ** _do you water trees or just flowers._

To anyone else, it might seem odd that his face has split into a beam at that curt message, but Stiles cannot deny that he is absolutely delighted. And not because this is absolutely gold blackmail material if Derek ever embarrasses him in front of the pack – although it is – because he knows deep down that Derek doesn’t _do_ nice things for himself, and that Stiles will never ruin this by blabbing to the others. Even if it might be tempting.

They probably wouldn’t believe him anyway.

He’s still smiling as he taps out a reply, and that little, fond feeling is still lodged in his chest when he plugs in his phone and rolls over to go to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness knows I should be revising for finals right now (they start in a week, woooo) but here we are. Apparently i need escapism as much as Derek does.  
> Thanks so much to those who left me a comment on the last chapter! big love! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Derek take on the stalk market

“What did you say? The stock market?” Derek squints at Stiles, who is currently reclining on Derek’s sofa. “That seems odd, for a game like this.”

Stiles grins. “The _stalk_ market. Get it? You buy a bunch of turnips on a Sunday, and you have a week to sell them at a profit or they rot. The prices you can sell them for in the shop change every day, so sometimes you might lose out. But if you get lucky, you can make, like, hundreds of thousands of bells in one go.”

Derek blinks at him. Stiles shrugs. “It’s great for paying off loans. Try it.”

Stiles had brought his own Switch with him today, and flopped down on the sofa with it before Derek could huff at him that he was busy. And really, what would the point of that been? If he’d actually been busy handling any kind of threat, Stiles would know about it already. Plus, it was a Sunday morning, and even Derek knows Sunday mornings are for lazing around.

“So how many turnips are you going to buy?” Derek asks, still a little baffled by such a real-world element finding its place in his cute, escapist game. “Who do you buy them from?”

Stiles’ face peeks up over his Switch. “Daisy Mae, you’ll find her. She’s orange. I dunno, probably like a hundred thousand bells of them? Between the two of us, we have a better chance of getting a good price at some point in the week.”

Derek doesn’t reply. He’s too busy withdrawing some bells from his savings. They sit in silence for a few minutes, each focused on their own console. After a while, Derek breaks the silence to ask, “If I can’t keep turnips in my storage like everything else, where exactly do I put them until I can sell?”

Stiles looks up. “Oh, I made a turnip patch outside my house. I can give you the code for the pattern if you want one too. Or just cover the inside of your house with them, it’s only temporary.”

Derek bristles at the very thought. He’d worked hard on decorating all of the rooms in his house, and he does not intend to spoil the effect by covering his floor in turnips. He tries to convey this to Stiles with a disapproving look and a raised eyebrow.

Stiles’ lip twitches with amusement. “Turnip patch it is.”

***

It’s a few nights later when Derek’s turnip prices go through the roof. He’s sat in bed, and knows as soon as Tommy promptly informs him that turnips are currently selling for 523 bells that Stiles is going to want in on this. Considering he’s bought them at 99 bells, Stiles had indeed been right – this would speed up his loan repayments enormously.

This time, he doesn’t think twice as he reaches for his phone and types a quick message.  
  
 ** _Derek:_** _Turnips selling for 523._

He holds the phone, expectant. A few moments tick by. Hmm. He’d thought Stiles would be excited about this, and would reply straight away. He waits a little longer, face falling as he waits for any kind of response.

Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe he’d been wrong about all of it.

He puts his phone back on the bedside table and eyes his Switch with annoyance. He’ll just sell his own turnips while the prices are good and then turn it off.

He’s just truly settling into his low mood when his phone rings. He looks at it with wide eyes, confused and slightly alarmed by the sudden hope spiking through him. And he can’t deny the relief when he picks up, and hears Stiles’ excited voice on the other end of the phone.

“Seriously, 523? I’m coming over right now, open the gates. We’ll have to be quick, the shop closes in half an hour, I might need to do two trips, I bought so many this week – oh man, this is gonna be so great, we’re rich, baby!”

Derek just smiled down the phone. “I’ve opened the gates. Hurry up.”

***  
It’s inevitable, really, that the pack notices. First, it’s the way that Derek just sighs when Stiles claims the sofa and kicks back with his feet up on the arm during pack meetings. Isaac and Scott exchange glances the first time it happens, Scott vaguely worried for Stiles’ safety. Everyone knows Derek can be territorial and prissy. But Derek just waits for Stiles to shuffle over and make room before sitting next to him. Scott blinks at this but says nothing.

Second, it’s the way Derek’s been acting lately. He’s still the same hard-to-please alpha with extremely high standards and expectations of all of them, but he’s a little slower to snap, that tiny bit more patient when someone messes up. It takes a few days before Scott puts together that Derek’s most extreme shows of patience only occur when Stiles is in the room.

Finally, Scott notices that Derek’s loft smells more like Stiles than anyone else. The first time he picks up on this, he’s in the middle of another pack meeting, so he blinks in confusion but keeps quiet. But once he’s realised, it’s hard to ignore – he’s absolutely certain that Stiles is spending time in the loft outside of pack meetings.

Scott doesn’t do anything with this information for a few days. It’s hard to believe that Stiles would keep this from him, if his theory is correct, and to be honest it hurts a little. He tells Stiles every single detail about his own private life! Even when Stiles got bored of it! That's what best friends do, right?

He eventually brings it up one evening after school, when it’s just him and Stiles hanging out. He’d figured this was the best way for a conversation like this to happen. They’re playing video games at Scott’s house, kicked back on the sofa together. It should be fun bro-time, but Scott keeps losing, over and over again. It’s hardly _his_ fault if he can’t focus, considering the magnitude of the information he’s processing. Eventually, Stiles puts the controller down. He looks faintly irritated.

“Look, man, are you gonna tell me about it? Whatever it is that’s got you so distracted?”

There’s his opening. Scott puts down his controller as well, and turns to give Stiles a sincere look.

“Uh oh,” Stiles mumbles. “Those are the ‘serious talk’ eyes. Why are we having a serious talk, Scott?”

Scott exhales. “Okay, so you know I’d never judge you, right?”

Stiles manages to frown and look vaguely alarmed at the same time.

“…riiiiight….”

Scott looks at the ceiling for a moment, then back at Stiles.

“Were you gonna tell me that you and Derek are hooking up?”

For a moment, Stiles just blinks at him. There is silence. Stiles blinks again. Then he starts to laugh.

Scott gesticulates at him, now more confused than ever, “Dude! What?!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Stiles says, controlling his laughter now. “I’m only gonna say this once – I am not hooking up with Derek, okay? Hear that heartbeat of mine? I’m not lying.”

Scott was both surprised and relieved to hear that Stiles was indeed telling the truth. “Okay, so what are you doing? There’s clearly something going on between you two. Plus, I can smell that you’re spending time at his apartment.”

Stiles looks conflicted. “Okay…can I just make a phone call real quick before I tell you? I don’t want to cross any lines.”

Scott nods, trying to squash his feelings of suspicion. “Fine, yeah, whatever.”

Stiles grabs his phone and heads out of the room. “And put some headphones on or something. No wolfy-hearing to listen in.”

“I wouldn’t”, Scott grumbles, plugging in his headphones and pressing play.

***

Derek has just finished his dinner when the phone rings. Stiles has his own ringtone by now, so Derek smiles as he picks up.

“What is it?” he says, and he hears Stiles chuckle.

“Would it kill you to say hi?” comes the response. Derek rolls his eyes.

“Hi.”

He hears Stiles laugh, and smiles. “What do you need?”

“Okay, well I’m not sure how you’re gonna feel about this, so hear me out, okay?”

Derek frowns. He can hear the nerves in Stiles’ voice. “Is something wrong?”

“Um,” Stiles’ voice has gone high-pitched now. “Well, no, not exactly, there’s just been some…confusion. A bit of a misunderstanding.”

Derek waits for Stiles to continue, but he’s fallen silent. “Stiles…” he says warningly.

“Right, right, yes, okay. So the thing is….the thing is…”

He hears Stiles take a deep breath, before mumbling, “Scott thinks we’re, like, together, apparently, so I need your permission to tell him that we’re just playing video games so he’ll stop being suspicious.”

Derek blinks.

“Scott thinks _what?”_

“I know, I know,” Stiles sounds almost distressed now. “I guess it was a scent thing, I don’t know, man. I can get him to back off if I tell him we’re just gaming, but, you know, I promised you I wouldn’t, so…”

Derek sighs. He’s not quite sure why his heart is beating quite like that in his chest, but he elects to ignore it. “Fine,” he grunts. “Tell him we’re playing video games. I’ll live.”

He hears a sigh of relief through the phone.

“Thanks, man. That’s definitely better than having everyone think…you know.”

Derek can’t quite place the feeling in his chest as he mutters a quiet “yeah” in response.

“Definitely better”, he says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! Sorry it has been weeeeeks since my last chapter (months? I'm honestly not sure and can't be bothered to check). I had my uni final exams (ahhh) and have been recovering from that since. But we're back with more Animal Crossing x Teen Wolf content that nobody wanted nor asked for.  
> Please leave me a comment if you enjoyed!  
> K  
> xxx


	4. Chapter 4

Stiles keeps it vague – it’s enough of a surprise for Scott just to know that Derek likes video games, he’d probably collapse at the image of Derek playing a sweet little game like Animal Crossing. And Scott is indeed surprised, but he can hear in Stiles’ steady pulse that he’s telling the truth.

“Wow, man,” Scott says, bemusement filling his voice. “That is…not what I expected.”

Stiles shrugs at him. “Yeah, well, let’s not think too hard anymore about what you expected. It’s just video games.”

And that is apparently enough of an explanation for Scott to drop the subject, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, Scott’s initial preconception seems to have wormed its way into Stiles’ brain and set up camp there. The simple fact that someone else had really believed…had thought that Derek of all people would be interested in him that way…It was ridiculous! It was unbelievable. And stupid.

Very stupid and ridiculous.

And yet something about the idea is just so tantalising that Stiles finds himself coming back to it again and again, sneaking its way to the forefront of his mind at random moments.

This might be a problem.

***

“This is totally not a problem,” Derek mutters to himself as he stares at the coffee mugs he’s holding. Because Stiles is coming over, again, and they’re going to play Animal Crossing, again, and surely it’s only polite for Derek to have a drink waiting for Stiles? Right? And the fact that he’s memorised exactly how Stiles likes his coffee is _totally not a problem and absolutely fine._

…Right?

Derek groans in irritation and sets the mugs back down on the counter. He’s not used to domesticity! House guests are usually strictly limited to pack meetings, where he and everyone else in the room knows full well that he’s in control, the leader, the _alpha._

But Stiles has managed to carve out a role for himself in Derek’s life that doesn’t slot in quite so neatly with everything else. And it’s frustrating and aggravating, and leads to Derek doing stupid, stupid things like glaring furiously at the coffee mugs sitting on his kitchen counter.

He closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath in. As he exhales, he hears the distant hum of Stiles’ jeep pulling up outside. He opens his eyes and looks at the mugs.

***  
  
Maybe it’s just Stiles overreacting, but when he barrels in through Derek’s apartment, flops down onto his usual spot on Derek’s sofa and turns to see a steaming mug of coffee waiting on a coaster, he is momentarily so shocked that he is stunned into silence.

Derek is already sitting at the other end of the sofa, Switch in hand, booting up the game. He must hear the change in Stiles’ breathing or something, because he looks up.

Stiles puts his Switch on the coffee table and reaches for the mug. Derek’s face is taught, thick eyebrows furrowed. He looks defensive as hell, like the wolf in him is ready to lash out to protect himself. Stiles can feel Derek’s eyes boring into him, can practically sense the intensity and the weight of his gaze. He looks back, eyes meeting with Derek’s. He takes a sip.

As the familiar flavour of coffee hits his tongue, he starts to grin in amazement. The coffee is good, really good. And not just because of Derek’s no doubt swanky coffee machine.

Stiles is still looking at Derek as he sips contentedly. He’s gotten pretty good at reading him by now, what with all this time spent together. In Stiles’ opinion, that particular expression means that Derek is secretly pleased, but is trying not to show it by pretending to be focused on his console again.

The coffee tastes so good, Stiles knows, because Derek took the time to make it for him. And more than that, he remembered exactly how Stiles makes it for himself.

And when that thought makes his insides go all melty and happy, he knows without a doubt that this is indeed going to be quite the problem. But as he watches Derek’s usually taut shoulders finally relax into a more comfortable position, and his grim features morph into a calmer expression, he knows that this whole thing has absolutely been worth it. If the cost of Derek getting to finally chill out a bit has been the destruction of Stiles’ last defences against a full-blown crush on the poor guy, he knows deep down it’s a choice he’d make again. Now he just has to figure out how to balance his constant desire to hang out together (possibly with some less than PG-13 activities involved) with the pretence that this is all just platonic bro-time. Stiles can handle that. Stiles can _totally_ handle that.

(It is quite possible that Stiles cannot handle that.)

***  
It’s a few weeks later when Scott starts to wonder if his first guess was actually more accurate than he’d thought, but he decides to keep it to himself this time. After more prodding, Stiles had eventually revealed the frankly bizarre truth about which game he’d introduced Derek to. And that had been an odd image to reconcile – growly, sulky, alpha Derek, and sweet, cute, Animal Crossing. But, yet again, Scott is listening to Stiles’ pulse without really meaning to as Stiles shares the secret, and there is no denying that he’s telling the truth. Equally, there’s no mistaking that light in his best friend’s eyes as Stiles talks excitedly about how seriously Derek takes his island, how Derek is totally going to beat Stiles to getting a 5-star rating from Isabelle, Derek this, Derek that.

Scott would mind more that Stiles can barely get through a conversation without somehow shoehorning some fact or other about Derek into it, but honestly? It’s kind of nice. It’s nice to see Stiles so animated about something other than pack research, or Lydia, for once. And absolutely everyone is appreciating the new, chiller version of Derek, even if the others are still in the dark and utterly baffled as to the reason for the turnaround.

So when Stiles cuts himself off from a detailed description of how Derek has organised his island, looking frustrated at himself, Scott raises an eyebrow. They’re sat in the canteen together, picking at their lunches as they wait for the next period to begin.

“You okay, man?” he says. “I was listening, I swear. Fruit trees next to the shop, for convenience, flowers by the airport, sorted by colour.”

Stiles runs a hand through his hair and sighs.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m rambling,” he says. “I know none of it actually matters.”

“Hey, if it matters to you,” Scott’s says, catching Stiles’ gaze. “Plus, it clearly matters to Derek, or he wouldn’t be putting so much effort into this game.”

Stiles smiles at that. “Have I mentioned that he has, like, three wolf islanders? It’s hilarious. I don’t even know how he managed that…”

Scott smiles again as Stiles continues his narration. He knows what this is - he’s seen it before. He wonders idly if Stiles is fully aware yet of the development of this (clearly full-blown) crush.

Stiles is still gesticulating wildly, and Scott smiles as he listens, and secretly crosses his fingers under the table.

Maybe, with a little luck, Derek and Stiles will keep looking after each other for the foreseeable future. The idea may have freaked Scott out at first, but hey, Stiles deserves nice things. And if Derek is capable of making him happy, Scott is willing to stand aside and see how it plays out.

Maybe Derek deserves nice things, too.

***  
  


They’re in their usual positions, splayed on the sofa, consoles in hand. Stiles simply hadn’t bothered to leave after today's pack meeting, and Derek had hidden his pleasure as it became apparent that the social time wasn’t over for the evening.

It’s quiet, but the atmosphere is relaxed and easy. Stiles made the coffees, this time, and he’s getting better at working Derek’s machine. He’s been collecting fruit on his island, a rather simple way to pass the time, but he enjoys the repetitiveness of it. He knows that Derek does too; the evidence is clear in front of him. Derek’s expression is open in a way that Stiles has never been able to appreciate before. Without the heavy lines of stress on his face, he looks…younger. Lighter.

Derek’s eyes flick up and he catches Stiles looking at him. Stiles feels himself begin to blush.

“What is it?” Derek asks, his voice gruff. Stiles looks away and smiles.

“I’m just…happy for you, man. It’s really nice to see you looking more chilled out. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love this game too, but I mean, who would have thought it would take a game like this to make you, you know –“ he gestures vaguely in Derek’s direction. “Slow down a little bit, take some time for yourself.”

Derek is starting to look distinctly uncomfortable, and Stiles is sensing that he may have crossed a line. “It’s just nice, that’s all,” he offers with a placating gesture, moving to pick up his Switch again. “Sorry, I guess that was a bit much.”

Derek has gone very quiet. When Stiles dares to peek up at him again, he sees something shift in Derek’s face.

“It’s not really about the game, Stiles,” Derek says, so quietly that it’s almost a murmur. “Not anymore.”

Stiles is staring at him, mind suddenly blank, pulse suddenly racing.

“But you love Animal Crossing,” he says, finding his mouth suddenly dry.

Derek looks away. “I know. But…it’s you, okay? The reason I’m happier, the reason I’m doing better. It’s because of you.”

Stiles’ mouth has fallen open. His brain cannot compute this information, he is utterly incapable of responding.

Derek starts to look panicked, eyes wide and vulnerable, and then that old defensive glare slams back down onto his face. He turns away.

“Never mind. That was stupid. I didn’t mean –“

He stops as Stiles reaches across and takes his hand. Their eyes meet.

“I really hope I’m not reading this wrong,” Stiles mutters, before moving towards Derek and slowly, gently, kissing him. It’s a simple, sweet kiss, a mere statement of intent.

A moment passes, and Stiles moves an inch away, waiting for Derek to respond.

And then, Derek’s hand is cupping the side of his face, and Derek’s fingers are tangling in his hair, and Derek is kissing him so passionately that Stiles thinks he might die from amazement and arousal. He moans delightedly as Derek manoeuvres Stiles until he’s sitting on Derek’s lap, pressing them closer together, loving the feel of Derek’s chest next to his own.

“Oh my god,” Stiles manages, as Derek moves to press harsh kisses against his neck. His eyes flutter shut with pleasure. “Oh, keep doing that, please!”

Derek hums happily as he nips at Stiles’ neck. Stiles’ head tilts back, his mouth falling open with pleasure.

“Derek,” he mumbles. Derek responds by sucking a mark into Stiles’ skin. “Derek!”

Derek pulls away, faux-exasperation in his eyes as he grins openly. “What?” His voice is rough and the sound of it sends a pang of arousal straight to Stiles’ crotch.

“We could have been doing this the whole time,” Stiles says, and ruts against Derek to better articulate his point. Derek growls, and returns to his assault on Stiles’ neck. “Why were we playing Animal Crossing when we could have been doing this?!”

Derek pulls away with a wicked grin, his hands curled comfortably around Stiles’ neck. “I thought you loved that game,” he teased. “I thought you just liked me because I could offer you peaches and good turnip prices.”

“Derek,” Stiles says solemnly. “Don’t go getting a big ego, but I think this is slightly better than virtual peaches and turnips.”

Derek considers this, then nods in agreement.

“Definitely better.”

And with that, the conversation is over, and they’re kissing again, and Stiles is absolutely lost in it. He’s surrounded by Derek’s heady scent, held between Derek’s strong arms, and he never, ever wants to leave.

And he’s pretty sure, from the breathy sighs escaping from his lips, that Derek feels the same way. Somehow, they’ve managed to build something together here. Stiles thinks it might just be the best thing he’s ever done.

Kissing Derek feels like coming home. And, as he melts under the looks Derek is giving him as they eventually move off the sofa and towards the bedroom, he can’t deny that those feelings have been there for a while. He holds Derek’s hand as they stumble through the bedroom door, the bed a welcome sight before them.

There are no final bosses in Animal Crossing. There’s no final end-point before you complete the game. It isn’t a game that you can win.

But Stiles knows, deep down, that he has absolutely won it anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it folks! I really hope you enjoyed this. I certainly did, although I'm vowing now to never EVER write a whole story in the present tense again.  
> It would really make my day if you'd leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much for all of the support, it's been lovely <3  
> Katie  
> x


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